


Love Is Written From The Heart

by PrinceThomas



Category: Great Pretender (Anime)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Misunderstandings, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Oblivious Edamura Makoto, Pining Laurent Thierry, Post-it Notes, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:28:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29180286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceThomas/pseuds/PrinceThomas
Summary: “Laurent! I have a secret admirer, pretty cool, huh?” Edamura bragged with a smug look on his face. Laurent let out a laugh as he pet Edamura’s head affectionately.”Impressive! You’re truly the Casanova of the ages.”In which Laurent convinces himself that his emotional repression expressing itself as a secret admirer to Edamura is just his way of “romance”.
Relationships: Edamura Makoto/Laurent Thierry
Comments: 4
Kudos: 109





	Love Is Written From The Heart

Edamura had unintentionally made the fantastical and whimsical Laurent Thierry, the seductive playboy, fall in love. Edamura wasn’t aware of what he had done, but Laurent could not stand to see Edamura as just a conman partner. He wanted to be a close friend, and if could be so blessed, a lover.

Even if it were just for a day, no- an evening spent with Edamura, Laurent would be happy.

So, ever the romantic, Laurent decided to make a game out of it for his Edamame. He scribbled down a small message on a tin of chocolates in handwriting that wasn’t his. To not cause panic or chaos, he told Cynthia and Abby of his plans, and they promised not to get in the way... too much.

Laurent thanked both women before he announced that he was going to leave, which Edamura happily chirped for him to be safe from his bedroom. 

”Hey, who’s chocolates are these?” The target asked loudly. They looked expensive too, so he probably shouldn’t even pick them up if they weren’t for him...

”Read the note, genius.” Abby shot back from her spot on the couch. 

Ah. There was a note on the top. 

To my dearest Edamura Makoto;

May these chocolates make you even sweeter ♡

“They’re for me, but who brought them?”

Cynthia let out an endearing ‘aww!’ Once she noticed Edamura take the bait. “You finally noticed your secret admirer’s gift!” She cooed. “Wasn’t that nice of them to get you nice chocolates?”

”Yeah, but _who?_ Did they get delivered here? Does someone know us?” Edamura panicked as he placed the chocolates down and checked his phone for any missed messages, emails, or strange contacts. 

”I think a certain someone has fallen for you recently! They’ve been whispering to me all about how cute you are, did you know that?”

”Huh? Someone likes me?” Edamura repeated in giddy shock. He couldn’t help the smitten smile that bloomed across his face as he fiddled with his hair. “She thinks I’m cute?” 

“Wouldn’t shut up about it.” Abby added in annoyance.

Edamura took the chocolates back as he completely forgot about his worry. Well, if she knew Cynthia and Abby, she was probably fine anyways! Besides, someone found him cute! Maybe even charming! Had Edamura met her? Did she fall in love at first sight? All the joyous questions filled his head as Edamura thoroughly enjoyed every chocolate.

Laurent had come home to a high-and-mighty Edamura, who was glued to Cynthia’s side as he buried her in questions about his secret lover.

”What’s she like?” “Is she shy?” “What does she look like?” 

“Edamame, Cynthia’s about to kill you, I would advise stepping back.” Laurent warned as Cynthia’s hands trembled in annoyance around her coffee cup. With an enraged look in her eye, she nodded in thanks at Laurent before she made her quick escape to the balcony to breathe. 

“Laurent! I have a secret admirer, pretty cool, huh?” Edamura bragged with a smug look on his face. Laurent let out a laugh as he pet Edamura’s head affectionately.

”Impressive! You’re truly the Casanova of the ages.” He praised before he looked over the tin in Edamura’s hand. He had not put it down ever since he knew it was his! “Hmm, whoever this is has great taste.”

”Yep, how’d she know I liked caramel chocolates?”

”Lady Luck must really want you two together, I suppose.”

Edamura spent the rest of the day in a gleeful daze, but little did he know there was more to come.

  
  


+♡+

The next note came a few days after, moments after Edamura, Cynthia, and Laurent all were distracting the guests of a party while Abby snuck through security. Edamura felt a strange square against his waistcoat, only to discover another note. This time, a pink sticky-note on the inside of his suit jacket.

My dearest Edamura Makoto;

You look lovely in that suit ♡

Edamura grinned ecstatically as he showed off the note to Laurent and Cynthia. “Wow! She must be really good at sneaking things! I didn’t even notice it until now!”

“Wooow! They must be very talented!” Laurent mused playfully as he patted Edamura’s shoulder in encouragement. “Perhaps she slipped it in during a dance?”

Edamura laughed and punched Laurent’s shoulder softly in jest. “I only danced with you, dumbass. We both know I couldn’t do it by myself!”

”Then it shall forever be a mystery: Who Loves Edamame?” Laurent teased, but Edamura shook his head in disagreement.

”No, I’m going to find her. I want to treat her for dinner at least.” Edamura explained. “Nobody’s ever really pursued me before, so I wanna make it special for her.”

”What if they’re a man? Or non-binary?” Cynthia piped up, but it didn’t deter Edamura’s romantic, rose tinted view of the situation. Edamura responded that he really didn’t mind, but he had a slight preference for women.

”Whoever they are, no matter what, he, she, or they, I’ll make them super happy for a night!”

  
  


+♡+

The next note was stuck to his bathroom mirror, a nice periwinkle sticky-note.

My dearest Edamura;

What are your favorite flowers? I would like to know ♡

Edamura bolted into the living room with the note in his hand. “Did anybody see her?” He asked frantically. “I had literally just taken a shower, and it wasn’t there but when I was done, boom!”

”Oh no, I put it there on their desire.” Laurent admitted. “After all, it wouldn’t be _decent or modest_ to try and sneak in while the love of their life is showering!” He added sarcastically.  
  


“You guys keep saying ‘they’, are they non-binary?” Edamura inquired. “I don’t wanna make them uncomfortable if I accidentally call them ‘she’ when I meet them.”

Laurent shook his head. “Nope, they’re on the binary, but they want to be shrouded in mystery. Are they a man? A woman? Or perhaps” Laurent explained as he tilted Edamura’s chin up with his hand softly. “a friend?”

Edamura pushed Laurent away with a laugh. “Like hell any of you would be so elaborate!” He exclaimed. He pointed at Cynthia. “Cynthia would come out and give me roses.” He pointed at Abby. “Abby would rather die than like me like that.”

”That’s true.” Abby confirmed as she made a motion of her gagging herself in disgust to emphasize her point.

”And _you-“_ Edamura smirked as he jabbed Laurent’s chest slightly with his accusatory finger.   
  


“Me?” Laurent echoed with a knowing smile.

” _You’d_ try to seduce me. So it can’t be anyone here.” Edamura deduced, but Laurent shook his head and patted Edamura’s cheek softly.

”What if I’m simply taking my time? Making you fall in love, ever so slowly?”

”It’s logical. You’re a playboy multi-millionaire, why would you ever fall for me in the first place?” Edamura turned to leave back to his room to get dressed for the day. “Also, when you see her again, tell her I like blue hydrangeas.”

+♡+

Sure enough, a drawing of a hydrangea was on a bright blue sticky-note. The note was stuck to the back of his palm after he and Laurent passed through a busy crowd. 

“Edamame, they struck again.”

”Huh? Where?”

Laurent pointed to the back of his own hand smugly, which Edamura copied the action immediately.

My dearest Edamura Makoto;

Your smile is beautiful today, like always.♡

”Is my smile really that nice?” Edamura laughed softly as his cheeks lit up brightly. 

”It could light up the world.” Laurent answered with a serious nod. 

”Did she say that?” Edamura asked with a hopeful look in his eyes. Wow, someone really liked him! Apparently she was safe too, since Abby, Cynthia, and Laurent are in on it! Edamura wondered what his admirer looked like. Maybe a cute blonde! Ooh, with blue eyes too! For sure, Edamura had a type for blondes!  
  


The notes only continued throughout the days, which pleased and plagued Edamura greatly. He wanted to know the person so badly, but it would ruin the fun! He was caught in the endless battling wills of “beg Cynthia to tell him” and “play along until the admirer is ready”. 

Edamura tucked the note into his pocket to preserve it with a smile that could brighten the cloudiest of skies. Laurent sighed as a warmth infected his whole body. He really could not get enough of Edamura’s smiles.   
  


+♡+

As the days continued to pass and the con had become more and more tied up in favor of the scammers, Laurent kept writing notes. He would add anything he found charming as a present as well. Laurent praised Edamura’s kindness, his bravery, his intelligence, his beauty... If Laurent thought it charming, he’d eventually put it in a note. But, as all good things should come to an end lest they lose their novelty, Laurent knew the time to wrap up his charade was nearing.  
  


”Edamame, I hear your little love wants to meet you for a romantic dinner after the show we put on tonight.” Laurent teased. “Be sure to not get your nice suit stained.”

Edamura perked up happily. “Really? She wants a date? Tonight?”

”Mhm, but that better not distract you from your role.” Laurent warned. “We have well over 50 million on the line here.”

”It won’t! I promise!”

Despite Laurent’s expectations, Edamura actually performed better than his usual acting! His job was to act as the charming shoulder to cry on for the target’s daughter, who Laurent unceremoniously dumped in favor of his new ‘fiancée’ who was to arrive the next morning. The target was outraged and unleashed an onslaught of verbal assaults at Laurent, who took it as he normally would. While the demeaning was happening, Edamura hugged the girl close, as they had become quite good friends during the operation. 

“Even I didn’t know about this fiancée of his, you’re not to blame at all!” Edamura comforted, but the daughter still sobbed harshly into her hands as she claimed to have loved Laurent, that she felt betrayed at how easily he broke her heart. Edamura nodded in agreement as he spoke up in anger.

  
”You really are an awful pig!” Edamura shouted. “I’ve known you for years! Did all of what I’ve done for you mean nothing?! All the times I brought you in, all the times I thought we were having fun together, _was it all just a lie like this was?!”_ He shouted as he clutched Camille close in a tight hug. Laurent acknowledged Edamura with a mere shrug of his shoulders before he focused his attention back on the screaming father.

”You... you didn’t deserve to be lied to.” Camille murmured through her tears. “You’re a good man. You’re the only person who ever talked to me who didn’t want Papa’s money.”

”Why would people be so scummy?” Edamura scoffed. “You’re not some kind of leverage for your father! You’re a respectable young woman!”

The target turned to Edamura and nodded his head in approval. “Your friend here is an example of decency! And you’ve leeched off him as well!” The man accused in fury.

Laurent hummed in dissatisfaction before he answered, opening his arms casually. “You use advantages to get ahead in life.” He defended. “He just so happened to be a good advantage for a time.”

As the target and Laurent bickered, Edamura escorted Camille upstairs and to her room, where they shared their gripes and grievances about Laurent in spite. The mutual hatred of Laurent went on for what felt like hours before Edamura excused himself to retrieve some water, as Camille had throughly cried all the water out of her.

The water was home to a few ice cubes and a dose of strong sleeping meds, but Camille was none the wiser as Edamura also continued to fill her other glass, which never had below a quarter of champagne in it. Needless to say, Edamura had no trouble swiping the key from around Camille’s necklace after she passed out into her soft and welcomingly warm bed. 

With a quick look to confirm Abby’s location in her “guard” shift, Edamura tossed the key into her hand and went back downstairs where a mutual shouting match was happening. The sight of Laurent’s scowl made Edamura’s body shake. He truly did look as if he could rip someone’s heart out. Edamura hurried down the stairs and slapped Laurent with an equally pissed off expression. 

”How could you?” Edamura cried as his voice broke. “My family saw you as a son! You were like a brother to me!” 

Laurent looked at Edamura in utter dismissal and disinterest as he softly touched where Edamura had smacked him. His skin was tinged pink at how hard the blow was. 

”Sounds like you and your family should learn how to detect people like me better. It’s not _my_ fault you guys gave me all those gifts.”

Edamura punched Laurent in the stomach, making Laurent fall back. Before Edamura could punch Laurent while he was down, the target placed a hand on Edamura’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. If he ever shows his face in Germany again, I’ll see to it he is personally found and punished.”

With that, two guards of the mansion pulled Laurent out of the foyer and threw him out onto the ground before they shut and locked the doors from the inside. Edamura fell to his knees and held his head in his hands while he wept. 

”What am I going to tell mother? Father?” He muttered through tears. “They love Laurent so much!”

The target helped Edamura up and offered him a night of drinks, but Edamura politely refused, as he said he needed some time alone to process what had happened.

As soon as Edamura rounded the corner and slinked into the alleyway Laurent had mapped where he finally let out a sigh of relieved nerves. He had really pulled a fast one over those suckers, huh! With a tired laugh, he looked to the wall, where another sticky note was. This one had different handwriting, though... it looked somehow familiar.

My Dearest Edamura Makoto;

I’ll see you on the balcony of the hotel building, I hope you like me ♡  
  


Edamura had never ran faster in his life to get to the hotel. He was really gonna see her! She liked him! His admirer was finally going to be revealed! Ohhh, Edamura hoped that showing up with nothing except himself was okay! If he knew _before_ the flower shops had closed for the night, he would have picked up something nice! Stupid Laurent and his stupid idea to tell him right before their performance!

”I’m here!” He exclaimed louder than he desired to as he slammed open the door. Edamura panted and gasped for air as sweat beaded down his forehead. He quickly pulled out his handkerchief and wiped away the droplets before he rushed to the mirror in the living room to fix his hair. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a hand leave the curtained glass door to the balcony. It was her! Cynthia giggled at how frantic Edamura was, but the man paid her no mind.

Edamura opened the balcony door slowly, as nerves overtook him. He swallowed the nervousness in his throat and attempted to calm his jittering hands. With a slow and shuddering breath, Edamura closed his eyes as he stepped outside, the slight rigidity of the autumn breeze kissed his face softly.

”Hello, Edamame.”

Edamura’s eyes shot open with an irked expression. His head shot over to the direction of the voice. There was Laurent, leaning on a chair and smiling at him with those damn near impossible to read eyes fixed on him.

”Are you kidding me?”

”Hm?”

”...There was no girl, was there.” Edamura realized. The nod Laurent gave only hurt him tremendously more so. Edamura walked to the guardrail and grasped the pipe tightly as his head curled into his chest. His eyes squeezed shut as his teeth gritted together. “Was this all some joke to you?” Edamura forced out through this teeth as tears dropped down his face.

”No, it wasn’t.” Laurent replied as he walked closer. As soon as Laurent’s hand touched Edamura’s shoulder, Edamura jolted away with a scorned sniffle. He finally looked at Laurent with his face stained red and his eyes pitifully and all unashamed to be overflowed with tears.

”What do you mean ‘no’? She doesn’t exist. There was no secret admirer.”

”You don’t know that.”

Edamura choked a sob back as his throat tightened. His body drained of all the giddy warmth and was raided by a cold, painful emptiness. He was tricked. Laurent tricked him, yet again. How long would this charade go on, if he hadn’t found that note? Was that all he was to Laurent? A joke he could manipulate?

Laurent sighed and shook his head. “Edama-mura. Edamura.” He corrected himself. “This isn’t a joke. There was an admirer, and there still is.”

”What do you mean.” Edamura spat out with a venomous glare.

”Isn’t it obvious?” Laurent asked as he tried to touch Edamura’s hand. Edamura pulled his hand back. Ouch, did Laurent fuck up? Edamura seemed so happy during the notes and gifts phase... “Edamura, _I’m_ the admirer.”

”Quit joking, I’m not gullible.”

Laurent grabbed Edamura by his wrist and dragged Edamura into Laurent’s room and over to his desk. There were stacks of notes with unique messages on all of them. His phone was open to a deliverable flower shop. Edamura stopped as he tried to process what he saw.

”Edamame, I love you.” Laurent whispered. “I really do. It’s not another trick.”

Edamura’s mind finally clicked it all together. “You... you really love me?” Laurent was finally allowed to touch Edamura’s cheek as he tilted Edamura’s gaze to find Laurent’s own. 

“I love you. Dinner is almost ready, and I would very much enjoy you in my company tonight.”

Edamura choked back a final sob as he hugged Laurent tightly. The violent tremors that ran through Edamura as he silently screamed into Laurent’s chest made Laurent hug him back just as tight. “Y-you’re an asshole.” Edamura whimpered as his breath became heavy and while his head became light.

”I know, Edamame. You don’t have to tell me that.” Laurent agreed as he soothingly ran his dexterous hand through Edamura’s hair. 

“Why didn’t you just tell me?”

”I... Well- that’s a tough answer.” Laurent started with a nervous chuckle. “At first, I was going to tell you as soon as I got home after the chocolates, but you seemed so happy and confident that I-“ He stopped and pulled away from Edamura until Laurent’s gaze locked with Edamura’s. “I didn’t want to ruin your joy.”

Finally, Edamura cracked a smile. It was a broken one with tears that poured down his face, but it still was a smile. The smile coaxed out a small snicker from Edamura, then a loud laughing bout. Laurent stood in amused bewilderment as Edamura grabbed his upper arms in a firm and inescapable hold before Edamura yanked Laurent close. Their foreheads knocked together slightly.

”For a genius confidence man, you really are a dumbass.”

As soon as the words left Edamura’s mouth, Laurent felt the familiar feeling of lips upon his own. The feeling felt strangely welcoming and warm, as if Edamura had been diligently preparing in wait for Laurent. Edamura’s hands fell from Laurent’s arms in favor of wrapping around his waist, which Laurent was more than overjoyed to reciprocate.

The kiss broke, after what felt like a blissful forever. Laurent leaned in for another, but only found solace in Edamura’s cheek.   
“Hey! I had something to say!”

Laurent stopped and looked expectantly at Edamura. “Oh?”

”I... I appreciate all this effort you put in for me. Maybe you have earned yourself a date, you blond bastard.” A smile appeared on Laurent’s face as he bit his lip in enthusiastic joy. ‘ _Damn, Laurent really was cute when he got excited._ ’ Edamura thought before he landed a small and chaste kiss onto Laurent’s cheek. “Congratulations, Laurent Thierry. You have somehow wriggled and conned your way into my heart. Try not to break it?”

”Never in a thousand years would I ever break your heart, darling.”

“Great.” Edamura sighed sweetly before he popped out of Laurent’s grasp casually. “Now, you said something about dinner? I dunno about you, but comforting heartbroken girls is a workout and a half!”

  
Laurent nodded as his familiar “Edamame” smile returned to his face. It was the smile he first gave to Edamura when they went suit shopping. Yes, it was similar to his other smirks, but the Edamame smile was only for, and finally he could say it out loud, _his Edamame._


End file.
